I received a most disturbing email from a friend today.  Knowing that I had
ferrets, she forwarded an email she had received about "ferret legging".
Judging by the long list of forwarded addresses, this has been going around
the net for a while now.
 
Though I know that it's all a bunch of bull ("...the common domesticated
ferret -- Mustela putorius -- has the spinal flexibility of a snake and the
jaw musculature of a pit bull." [Mustela putorius is a polecat]) I was
wondering about a citation of the Encyclopedia Britannica in the post.
 
>Loyal to nothing that lives, the ferret has only one characteristic that
>might be deemed positive -- a tenacious, single-minded belief in finishing
>whatever it starts.  That usually entails biting off whatever it bites.
>The rules of ferret-legging do allow the leggers to try to knock the ferret
>off a spot it's biting (from outside the trousers only), but that is no
>small matter, as ferrets never let go.  No less a source than the
>Encyclopedia Britannica suggests that you can get a ferret to let go by
>pressing a certain spot over its eye, but Mellor and the other ferret
>specialists I talked to say that is absurd.  Reg favors a large screwdriver
>to get a ferret off his finger.  Another ferret legger told me that a
>ferret that had almost dislodged his left thumb let go only after the
>ferret and the man's thumb were held under scalding tap water -- for ten
>minutes.
 
Does anyone out there have the Encyclopedia Britannica?  Maybe we can't stop
people from writing email like this, but maybe we can convince Encyclopedia
Brittanica to update its article, assuming that this is indeed a valid
citation.
 
Bill
 
Cedric - "I believe in finishing whatever I start, just as long as it
doesn't take too long.  Naps are important, you know..."
 
Alexander - "Once I get a raisin, I'll NEVER let go of it"
[Posted in FML issue 1762]